My plan for Day 4 was to stick with one park. The world was crowded and I figured our best plan of attack was to get FP's and use them throughout the day. We had ADR's at HS for Fantasmic. I knew there was no chance of getting to ride much if we only went in at night. So LJ, DS 14, DH, and I planned to hit the world early. Well....semi early! I think DS 14 decided to sleep on the pull out chair in the living room. He did this because the older boys started antagonizing him after they got back from HS. Having him out in the LR worked to my advantage because it made it easier for the am wakeup call!
In the morning I had my coffee all ready to go!
See..... I was finally catching on. After coffee DH and I went to the health club. Today I decided to try the eliptical. My decision was easy since two of the treadmills were already in use which left one for DH. At least the eliptical had a working TV. Having not used an eliptical before, I took it pretty easy. Muscle confusion is great, but lactic acid in the muscles is bad. I didn't want to be using some obscure muscles that were going to be shocked by a new exercise. So while DH was huffing and puffing on the treadmill, I was having a good old time.
La Lala Lala ......"So what park should we go to today?" "What FP should we get first?" "How hot do you think it will be today?" "Any chance of rain?" I was very careful not to go too hard, but I was probably annoying DH with my chatter.
Once the workout was behind us, I started the daunting task of getting DS up. Let's just say he didn't bounce right out of bed, but at least he didn't sleep until noon.
I'm not sure what time we got to HS, but it sure wasn't park opening. Still, it was a fairly acceptable time and I walked right to the TSM FP queue without the rope drop squeeze. I was feeling pretty good until I walked right into a wall of people.
The FP line snacked out practically to One Man's Dream. I might be exaggerating a bit, but I did stand in that FP line for 20 minutes. I think it had to be close to 10am before I got out of the line. Our return time was for 1:30pm.
Here's LJ and DS14 waiting for me while I stood in the never ending FP line.
When we first got to the park I told DH to take the boys over to ToT and they could ride it while I got FP's, but they wanted to wait for me. About 10 minutes into my wait my DH starting calling to see where I was! Doh! When I finally had the FP's in hand we decided to go on Star Tours. For some reason I did not have a good touring plan for today. I was hoping to get FP's for all the three big rides, but we were already well behind the eight ball.
Star Tours was a hit with LJ. We got the back row with nearly center seats. Perfect spot. Star Tours was met with LJ's usual praise, "AWESOME"! We felt pretty happy when we got off. Then we hit the gift shop. Uggghhhh! People everywhere. It was going to be one of those days.
Since we were close to Muppets we decided to head over there. I'm not kidding when I say that the theatre was almost entirely packed! We also had a pretty full crowd in the preshow. I took this opportunity to take some "different" pictures:
LJ enjoyed the Muppets, but it did not quite reach his usually rating of AWESOME. Outside the Muppets we took a few more pics.....
I also took a picture of this cute little guy I found in the gift shop:
Today was the first day that the outside heat started to get to me. When we first arrived in Orlando the temps were in the 90's, but the humidity was low. The humidity gradually worsening throughout the week and I was starting to feel it early today. Next we decided to go on the Great Movie Ride, but when we looked at the line, it was out the door!
No way. No can do. I thought LJ would like the ride, but I've been on it many times and there was no way I was going to wait that long. So, we decided to do what we do best in the late morning......yeah that's right.....we ate at the ABC Commissary.
While HS has many good TS choices, I think the CS choices are somewhat lacking. Seriously, I have no idea what I had at ABC Comm. Clearly, it was not that memorable.
And because I ate too much and it was still relatively early for lunch, I felt stuffed at the end of the meal. 1145 was our next FP time, so I told the boys I would go to ToT and get FP's while they waited in the AC. Yeah - I was feeling pretty generous, so I took one for the team.
When I got back with the FP's I suggested that we go see AI. I even asked one of the CM's if it was too late to audition. They told me I needed to come in now if I wanted to do it. I really didn't. I knew it would be time consuming and I sing a lot better when I am warmed up. Seriously, when I was younger I could just open my mouth and sing. It would pretty much come out the way I wanted it to. But age has a way of affecting even the vocal cords and I need a real warmup before I can sing. So what's the problem with that, you ask? The warm-up I do sounds like a dying cow until I reach the higher notes. Then it sounds like a dying crow. It is seriously the worst sounding thing you have ever heard. It's called using your "inner voice". I learned it from a professional singer/instructor and it really works. Without getting too much further off topic, I will just say that I saw this instructor use it with a group of very average singers and after they were done the results were amazing.
Back to AI - we just barely managed to get seated for the 1200 show. Our show had 3 contestants - one very cute girl who looked to be about 22, one 30ish women who sings at church (like yours truely), and an 18 year boy, recent high school graduate. He was the "ringer". I learned from reading Lurkyloo's report that AI is designed so that each show has a "ringer". That is the person they want you to vote for. I realized that I will probably never do this show because I definately don't have the "ringer" vocals. I think I have a decent chance of getting in the show when the talent pool is diminished, but I definately don't have the ringer looks or talent. I've got more of a folk singer/songwriter thing going on. If you're curious, click on John's song and you'll see what I mean. Plus I am a certified alto. I struggle with high notes.
So let's meet the contestants, shall we......
I voted for the first girl. She sang some country song, but she didn't quite work it well enough. She had a decent voice though. The cute girl sang
Black Horse and a Cherry Tree. That song seriously has no range whatsoever. It's kinda cute, but no one singing that song is going to win.
The boy sang
Somewhere Over the Rainbow. He was good. Probably the best, but they wanted him to win.
They did this video clip of him running through a bunch of girls and the filmed people outside clapping for him. It was such a set up. There was no way this shrewd talent critic was going to fall for that. Plus, I don't know if any of you have ever heard of Eva Cassiday, but I discovered her on You tube. She died over 10 years ago, at the age of 35. She has the most amazing voice I have ever heard and she did a cover of
Somewhere over the Rainbow. After hearing Eva, well, no one can compare. If you like music, I urge you to google her cause she was a simply amazing, undiscovered artist.
Oh....here are the judges.......
They really did act a lot like Randy, Paula, and Simon. Except they left out the, "Yo dog. It was just alright for me. A little bit pitchy in parts".
Here they are again........
AND the winner is..........
John somebody. What a shocker!
Up next..... TSM......and will we ever get a FP for RnR?
Good luck!
I'm slowly catching up to all your posts... 
